7 Deadly Fears Entrepreneurs Must Overcome to be Successful

How to recognize and conquer your fears, keep motivated, and stay focused on the future.

Starting from scratch can be both exciting and frightening for entrepreneurs.

This is true whether you're a first-time entrepreneur or you've recently quit your job to start up a new company.

Right now your future has no limits. You might be building the next billion-dollar company right now! Crazy, right?

But even though what is happening now and what comes next is incredibly exciting, every entrepreneur still has fears. It would be weird if you weren't at least a little afraid!

You must overcome your fears if you're going to be successful. There's a lot of upside if you can power through those.

Here are seven huge fears you'll have to overcome as an entrepreneur.

1. Fear of Change

Change is the first fear you will encounter. It will visit you and start hanging out with you long before you go all in on your new venture.

Why? Because screwing up a good thing is downright scary.

Is the grass actually greener on the other side? Or should you appreciate the green grass that's under your feet right now?

It's human nature to think that no matter how great your current situation is that it could always be better.

But really, are you stealing defeat from the jaws of victory by leaving a known quantity to start something new?

Until you take the leap and make a change, you will worry.

You can't know whether it will be an equally good or better outcome. Unfortunately, we can't A/B test our lives.

All entrepreneurs have to overcome this fear and make a crucial decision. Stay where you are or make a change.

2. Fear of Failure

Another fear you must overcome is the fear of failure.

Your company won't work--not enough customers, not enough funding, whatever the reason. You won't be able to pay your bills. Sure, but that's only part of it.

The real killer is the public aspect.

When you start a company, you're really sticking your neck out. You don't want people to think of you as a failure.

Fear is just your pride.

You can't worry about what other people sitting on the sidelines will think if you fail.

For crazy psychological or emotional reasons, some of your family members, friends, and peers won't truly support you because they don't understand what you're doing. Consciously or unconsciously, some people will cheer for you to fail.

6. Fear of Letting Others Down

You never want to let your customers down. Once people trust you enough to buy your product or service, you want to keep those customers for as long as you can. That means providing a great product or service that lives up to their expectations.

Another group of people you don't want to let down: your employees. Working for a startup takes a leap of faith on their part. They're counting on that paycheck from you to earn a good living.

Your investors are another group you don't want to let down. Anyone who invests millions of dollars into your venture deserves to make that money back.

Fear can either cripple you or motivate you if you make it all about you.

Or, you can use that fear to focus you, keep you going, and drive you to deliver on all those promises you made.

7. Fear of Being Wrong

When you launch your business, there are three areas that can just kill you: being wrong about your product, target audience, or go-to-market strategy.